I am pretty sure, right off the top, that there are a few extremely awkward, or mis-used words in that essay, that set me on edge. Elitist that I am.
I am a huge fan of so-called "Genre" fiction. Not romance novels. But SF/Fantasy/Speculative-Fiction, yes.
I think that mainstream literature has a few characteristics, each of which is a mixed blessing, not all bad, and not always good, that define it:
1. intellectual sophistication, which he would put down as elitism and snobbery. Intellectual sophistication includes truly fabulous writing, like the short stories of Flannery O'Connor and the novels of Graham Greene, and also includes what I consider to be unreadable dreck. Just because it's intellectually sophisticated, doesn't make it bad writing, nor does it make it good.
2. avoiding conventions in how the story is written, wherever possible, to an almost pathological extent. For example, if the Old Way was telling stories in a plot-driven, character-driven way, the literary elite may consider this "too easy" by some within the "literary" world, and so there has been some (maybe a lot) of inaccessible writing in the mainstream literary world. Inaccessible to those of us who care about characters, plot, and conventional novel structure. Let's read something entirely narrated in the second person, shall we? Uh, no thanks.
3. a pathological need to break taboos, shatter sensitivities, jar your readership, and otherwise upset morally conservative or religious (christian, jewish) people, or anything to whom something is sacred. In Mr. Smith's brave new novel, the themes are X rated, and filth is somehow passed off as sophistication. Nothing must remain sacred. It is the writer's duty to tear down whatever he can, destroy and desecrate.
So, I don't like those tendencies, but when they're held in cheque, there is a kind of emotional realism that mainstream fiction reaches that genre fiction almost never reaches. I know there are exceptions. But they are not the rule. Show me a science fiction novel that has depth of insight into the human condition that can compare with Graham Greene, Flannery O'Connor, or Evelyn Waugh, anyone?
That being said, 90% of everything is crap, including SF/Fantasy, and most Literary stuff.
Pardon me if I disagreeify and exceptionate.
I am a huge fan of so-called "Genre" fiction. Not romance novels. But SF/Fantasy/Speculative-Fiction, yes.
I think that mainstream literature has a few characteristics, each of which is a mixed blessing, not all bad, and not always good, that define it:
1. intellectual sophistication, which he would put down as elitism and snobbery. Intellectual sophistication includes truly fabulous writing, like the short stories of Flannery O'Connor and the novels of Graham Greene, and also includes what I consider to be unreadable dreck. Just because it's intellectually sophisticated, doesn't make it bad writing, nor does it make it good.
2. avoiding conventions in how the story is written, wherever possible, to an almost pathological extent. For example, if the Old Way was telling stories in a plot-driven, character-driven way, the literary elite may consider this "too easy" by some within the "literary" world, and so there has been some (maybe a lot) of inaccessible writing in the mainstream literary world. Inaccessible to those of us who care about characters, plot, and conventional novel structure. Let's read something entirely narrated in the second person, shall we? Uh, no thanks.
3. a pathological need to break taboos, shatter sensitivities, jar your readership, and otherwise upset morally conservative or religious (christian, jewish) people, or anything to whom something is sacred. In Mr. Smith's brave new novel, the themes are X rated, and filth is somehow passed off as sophistication. Nothing must remain sacred. It is the writer's duty to tear down whatever he can, destroy and desecrate.
So, I don't like those tendencies, but when they're held in cheque, there is a kind of emotional realism that mainstream fiction reaches that genre fiction almost never reaches. I know there are exceptions. But they are not the rule. Show me a science fiction novel that has depth of insight into the human condition that can compare with Graham Greene, Flannery O'Connor, or Evelyn Waugh, anyone?
That being said, 90% of everything is crap, including SF/Fantasy, and most Literary stuff.
Warren